‘My goal this year is to win as everybody does,’ says Eid Naser after winning the Diamond League 400m event in Doha
Salwa Eid Naser, the Nigeria-born Bahraini says she came prepared to set a new meeting record after running 49.83 to win the 400m event at the Doha Diamond League meeting in Doha, Qatar on Friday evening.
Eid Naser won the 400m World title on the same track in 2019 and wants to continue winning as she prepares for the 20th World Championships this September in Tokyo, Japan.
‘I feel good, it is such a special feeling to achieve a new meeting record! It was not a coincidence; it was my aim for today’s meeting to make a new MR.
‘After the silver medal at the Olympic Games, I went on a long break and then I came back, because it is important to rest. My goal this year is to win as everybody does, but I also want to be healthy.
‘I will try to run a better time, but I don’t want to pressure myself with it. I just want to be out there and enjoy. It is windy here, but I won the World Championships here in Doha, so it is always special to be here,’ she said in her post-race chat with the Diamond League website.
Eid Naser holds a personal season’s best of 48.67 which she ran to win at the opening leg of Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track last month in Kingston, Jamaica. The time is the fastest in the event so far this year.
Her 48.14 seconds lifetime best she ran to win the World title in 2019 is the third fastest in the history of the event, bettered only by the Marita Koch’s 47.60 World record set in Canberra, Australia in 1985 and Jarmila Kratochvilona’s 47.99 achieved at the inaugural edition of the World Championships in Helsinki in 1983.
